Panicum virgatum ‘Huron Solstice’, hereinafter also referred to as ‘Huron Solstice’ and the new plant is a new and distinct cultivar of Switch Grass. It is the result of a cross made by Martin Quinn between Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’ (not patented) as the female parent and Panicum virgatum ‘Rehbraun’ (not patented) as the pollen parent at a nursery in Goderich, Ontario, Canada and selected for further observation in 2001. The plant has been successfully propagated by division at the same perennial plant nursery in Goderich, Ontario, Canada and found to produce identical plants that maintain the unique characteristics of the original plant. The plant is stable and reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
Panicum virgatum ‘Huron Solstice’ differs from its parents as well as all other Panicum known to the applicant, in that the new plant has some blue green foliage like ‘Heavy Metal’ but develops dark purple leaves early. Panicum ‘Huron Solstice’ has fewer leaves that are redder rather than the large number of the new plant that turn dark purple. Other similar Switch Grass include Panicum ‘Prairie Fire’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,367. ‘Prairie Fire’ is has more reddish foliage than ‘Huron Solstice’.